The Throwaway Horse and Other Short Stories for Young People: Book 2

By Lynn Lowry

This is a group of short stories, some are a little funny, some are scary true stories and some are fiction that are real page turners. A few are true animal stories about the animals that pass through my life and the adventures that happen, all are fun to read and will leave you wanting more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477277737

Lynn Lowry

Lynn Lowry has four grown successful children and thirteen grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. She lives in the High Sierras in California with her husband where they raise their six quarter horses and three labordor dogs and two cats.

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© 2012 by Lynn Lowry. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   10/08/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4772-7774-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4772-7773-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012918593

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

The Throwaway Horse

The Stones

Best Buddies

Black Mountain

The Hobbits Next Door

Haunted Hoxie Bridge

The Sad Little Car

The Yellow House

Verdette

Terror on the Mountain

The Story of Falling Rock

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

Three to Make Ready

Three to Make Ready

The Throwaway Horse

It was in the early spring one year, and there was still snow on the ground in spots as I headed down the winding mountain road. I had a doctor’s appointment on that day or I wouldn’t have seen the trailer.

I saw the two horse trailers, and since we have horses, I always look at the different kinds of trailers and the horses in them. This time was no different.

The mountain road is extremely winding and you have to go slow, so I got a good look at them both. The first trailer had two horses in it with saddles on them, ready to ride as soon as they got to where they were going. The trailer itself was pretty: shiny silver, and clean. It was well kept. The second one, on the other hand, was a white stock trailer, similar to our small trailer. I noticed it because it was like ours, also because it had only one horse in it. And this horse did not have a saddle on, nor did it have a blanket on. But in all fairness, some people think that putting a horse into a trailer already saddled could be dangerous for the horse. And I thought, Hmmm. No saddle! But maybe they were going to saddle it later. So I went on to my appointment.

On my way back up the mountain hours later, I was surprised to pass the same two trailers. The first one, containing two horses, was going very slow because of the weight. The same white two horse trailer followed, but it was bouncing. This time the trailer was empty.

I thought at that time it was very odd, and I knew it was the same trailer because it was just like ours.

Robert and Katherine were out walking on the Freeman Trail a couple of days later and came across a horse, loose, but blocked in an area on the other side of a small bridge. The bridge had large branches across the end of it so that the horse could not get past it. They were probably placed there so that she would not follow them. There was not enough grass, because of it being so early in the spring. There was still snow on the ground in spots so the nights were still pretty cold, also, she could not get down the very steep sides to the creek to get water. Someone had put her there deliberately to die.

Robert and Katherine called us when they got home, because we have horses. We wanted to go get her, but it was already getting dark. And not knowing her temperament, we all decided it would be safer to go get her in the morning. As soon as it got light, Kent saddled Blaze and loaded him into our small trailer. Robert and Katherine were in their car and were going to show Kent where the horse was. Kent took Blaze because he is very calm in nature. Kent and I call him our big brother horse. We always put him in with our foals when we wean them from their mothers. We were pretty sure that he would be a calming influence on the other horse.

Everyone arrived at the beginning of the Freeman Trail. They parked the car and the truck and trailer and unloaded Blaze. By the time Kent got on Blaze, Robert and Katherine were already down the trail. They all had walkie-talkies, and so as soon as the horse had been located, Robert told Kent. He was just a few minutes behind them. When Kent came upon them, Blaze started talking, and then Kent caught sight of Miss Freeman. She was up on a hillside and also talking to Blaze. She started making her way down to Blaze, which is actually what they all were hoping for. She was really looking for a friend to be with; she came down and stood quietly right next to Blaze.

Kent got off and put a halter on her, which she did not resist at all. The three of them led her and Blaze back to the trailer, where she got right in next to Blaze and stood there quietly.

They brought her home and we could all really see just how thin she was. And worse, that she had been abused. There were wounds on her: old ones and newer ones as well. Also, her feet had not been cared for in at least a year. They were all chipped and broken and extremely long. Normally, a horse has their hooves trimmed every six weeks. So we all washed her and then washed her again, she was so dirty. And then we put salve on her wounds.

Then, as Katherine and I brushed her very matted mane and tail and held her, Robert and Kent put together a corral to put her in, along with a water container for her. When it was ready, we put her in it. At this time, after measuring her, we could tell that she was at least three hundred and fifty pounds underweight.

She did not like being by herself. Horses are herd animals and always want to be with other horses. She wanted to be with Blaze. We couldn’t let her be with our other horses until we knew for sure that she was not sick. So she and our horses spent a lot of time talking to each other over the fences from a distance.

When horses are that underweight, you can’t just dump a lot of food for them to eat. They will eat too much at one time and colic. That is, they will get a really bad stomach ache. So we fed her seven times a day: very small meals of grains and special feed and also small amounts of alfalfa hay.

There is an old saying: It takes a village to raise a child. When our friends and neighbors found out that we had her, they all wanted to help. Some came over to brush her, some even came over to clean the pen, some insisted on giving money to pay for her special food.

This went on for a long time. We kept feeding her and brushing her. She turned out to be really beautiful even in spite of her wounds, which were healing.

When our farrier (hoof care specialist) came to trim our horses’ feet, he insisted on trimming Miss Freeman’s feet for free. He told us that her feet had not been taken care of for about a year, and that she was a little bit lame because of their being so overgrown. He estimated that she was around eighteen years old, which is only middle age for a horse. He told us that she was a thoroughbred type of horse, and yes, she was at least three to four hundred pounds down. He made a few suggestions for her diet, for which we were very grateful.

It just floored me that someone would throw away such a beautiful and gentle animal when there were so many homes she could have graced, with people who would love her and care for her.

Word got around that we had her and were looking for a home for her, after we built her health back up. We made phone calls to different agencies and schools regarding her. We had quite a few phone calls back about her.

A school for special needs children wanted her. Also a boy’s school, this school was for young boys around twelve years old, for boys at the beginning of being in trouble. And a boy’s camp asked for her also. All of these places used horses as a reward system to inspire the children to behave and to be good, and then they would be allowed to brush them and feed them. Also, later on to saddle and ride them.

We also had a lot of phone calls from single families who wanted to have her. If there were so many people that wanted her, why did the people who owned her do this to her? They just threw her away. They tried very hard to be cruel and to murder her in a most horrible way. It would have been so easy to find her a home. We did!

But first, we had to get her well.

Miss Freeman was very loving and gentle. Every time we would go outside, she would look up and start ‘talking’ to us. We just fell in love with her.

She started slowly gaining back the weight that she needed to be healthy. And her wounds were healing.

A friend, Cheri, came over one day and wanted to pet her and brush her. She started coming over almost every day to be with her. She started calling her Miss Daisy after seeing her in her corral, which was surrounded by blooming daisy plants.

One day, Cheri climbed up on Miss Daisy’s back and she just walked her around the corral bareback, with Cheri in sandals and with no halter or anything. She just held onto Miss Daisy’s beautiful mane and gave signals with her knees. Cheri said that she was a dream to ride and had been trained very well. For several weeks, all she did was walk her because Miss Daisy was still very underweight. They just got to know each other.

We began to wonder if she had been stolen and then dumped for some reason. I don’t think we will ever really know what happened.

Cheri came over every chance she got to see Miss Daisy and to help clean her pen and to help feed her. Miss Daisy really looked forward to seeing her. When Cheri would turn into our long driveway, Miss Daisy would get so excited. She would call out to Cheri and jump around. They were already forming a bond with each other. It was so cute to watch!

As the spring got warmer and the days became weeks, Miss Daisy was still getting five small meals a day. But at night now, we would put alfalfa hay in her food container and she would nibble all night long. She was getting healthier looking and was starting to act like a horse again.

After a month went by and we all knew for sure that she was not sick, we decided to put her in with Blaze and our other horses.

It would be fun to watch, so we invited our friends and neighbors to come over. When we walked her over to the big pasture, our horses all started running back and forth and nickering to her. She, of course, was nickering back at them. She picked up her pace and wanted to get to the gate faster. We got to the gate, and then I went in and moved them all back a little so Kent could come in with her to remove her halter. When he did get inside the gate with her he untied the halter, they all touched noses to say hello. This is why we had to make sure that she was not sick. Then Kent took off the halter and let it slowly slide off her face. She looked at us, and then turned and trotted off a few feet, and started running with all of our horses running with her. It was so pretty to watch!

Robert and Katherine were there also. Standing on one of the big boulders surrounding the upper pasture, Robert was taking pictures of the exciting moments.

Everyone was laughing as all of the horses were running and bucking. Kicking up their heels and farting loudly (Horses do this when they are very excited and happy).

Three more months went by. It was a wonderful summer. Miss. Daisy was doing very well at our home.

All of our wonderful neighbors still came around, wanting to brush her and insisting on giving us money for the special food she was still getting.

We would lead her out of the pasture to the washing rack, which we have to bathe our horses, in order to feed her the special food. Our horses most definitely did not need to put on any weight. Quarter horses generally are what most people call easy keepers. You have to be careful that you don’t over feed them, because they put on weight easily. Thoroughbreds like Miss Daisy are what some people call hard keepers, which means that some need food more often or in greater amounts.

Cheri came over all the time to brush her and she would ride her. Cheri could because she was small and light in weight. Cheri’s boss bought a saddle for Miss Daisy. Up until now, she had been riding her bareback and only in the round corral, for several reasons. Miss Daisy was too thin and our saddles were too heavy for her, and our saddles were for quarter horses. Miss Daisy was a thoroughbred, and they are built a bit differently. Quarter horses are a little shorter in the back, and thoroughbreds have a little longer back.

Summer was winding down now, and because we live in the mountains, the nights were getting colder. At the end of September there was even a light snow flurry. Winter was coming a bit early this year. We have blankets for all of our horses and different sizes for our foals that are born to us. We had to find one to fit Miss Daisy, which we did, and it kept her warm. She was very agreeable to letting us put it on her